Patrick Howley

A young progressive political operative identifying herself as “Syndney Leathers” has been identified as the woman who exchanged sexually provocative text messages and photos with New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner after his resignation from Congress.

“Leathers,” who lists herself online as a field organizer for Obama for America, was fingered Tuesday by Buzzfeed as Weiner’s sexting partner. “Leathers” previously tweeted her support for Weiner on multiple occasions, even listing Weiner third on her list of “heroes,” which was topped by President Obama and included Bill Maher, Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, and Charlie Sheen.

Weiner admitted in a press conference Tuesday that he continued sexting after his June 2011 resignation from Congress, which was spurred by conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart’s publication of multiple sexually explicit “selfies” that Weiner sent to women over social media.

Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin, a Hillary Clinton aide, spoke on her husband’s behalf at the press conference, announcing that she has forgiven Weiner and that their marriage was saved by “a whole lot of therapy.”

The nightlife website “The Dirty” first published screenshots of Weiner’s texts. The Dirty’s source “has lawyered up in fear of Anthony Weiner, but she is willing to expose his sexual nature to TheDirty.com for the betterment of America,” according to the website. Weiner’s sexting partner has been identified as a 22-year old woman.